Cormac Moore: Can the GAA and unionism reconcile or will they remain prisoners of history?

During the 100-plus years of partition, for Catholics and nationalists, the GAA remained a steadfast champion of their identity and did much to enhance their cultural and societal experience in Northern Ireland through many trying times. It was, for many, the primary link with the rest of Ireland.

Seen as a symbol of republicanism and a body opposed to partition and British rule, unionists have never embraced the GAA. Nor, until recently, has the GAA made many efforts to embrace unionism. As historian Paul Rouse has stated, although the GAA “was cross-border in almost everything that it did, it was not cross-community”.

The relationship between the GAA and unionism has been in the spotlight recently, mainly due to the attempts to obtain funding so that Casement Park can be built in time for Euro 2028. Can the GAA and unionism have a better relationship or will the GAA remain, to quote Éamon Phoenix, “the prisoner of its history”?

The GAA was trenchantly opposed to partition. Its policy was similar to that of many leading nationalists in the south. It chose to ignore it. There is no mention of partition in the minutes of the Ulster GAA Council from 1921 to 1922. The term ‘Northern Ireland’ was avoided in meetings and documents.

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The GAA became intrinsically linked with the violence that engulfed the north at the time of partition after members of the Monaghan Gaelic football team were arrested by ‘B’ Specials in Tyrone on their way to the Ulster football final in Derry in January 1922, an incident which acted as a catalyst for a further wave of violence, particularly in Clones and Belfast.

As the new northern government adopted a siege mentality, numerous GAA members were interned without trial between 1922 and 1924. This led to a lapse in GAA fixtures, with very few Gaelic games being played in rural parts of Northern Ireland for some time.

Although opposed to partition, the GAA was unwilling to recognise the difficulties it posed to GAA members north of the border. The GAA Central Council rejected a proposal to appoint a full-time paid special organiser for the six counties. According to historian Dónal McAnallen: “There was already in these counties a sense of abandonment by the rest of Ireland in the sporting realm as in other.”

Even though the GAA was vehemently opposed to partition, it appeared to favour Ulster counties not in the six counties of Northern Ireland. Most major Ulster championship ties were held in Monaghan and Cavan venues, with only three Ulster senior football finals taking place in the six counties from 1921 to 1945. This was reflected on the field with Monaghan and Cavan completing dominating there also. Cavan alone won seven Ulster senior football championship titles in the 1920s, eight in the 1930s and nine in the 1940s.

Local councils became forums of unionist discrimination against the GAA, with very few playing fields being allocated to the association. GAA grounds were also attacked, halls blown up, posts uprooted by RUC members. The hostile northern government also attempted to ban Sunday games, the day Gaelic games were traditionally played. Transmission and results of GAA matches were not covered by many media outlets. Gaelic games were not seen as sports, but as nationalist political symbols.

Shortly after the Troubles began, the GAA’s ban on “foreign games” was lifted, removed at the Annual Congress held in Belfast in 1971. However, the bans on RUC and British Army members being allowed to join were retained.

Many GAA members were killed during the Troubles – some who were also IRA members, but most who were not, who were civilians like Seán Brown. GAA pitches were commandeered by the British Army, most notably that of Crossmaglen Rangers. Unionists saw (many still see) the GAA as an Irish republican anti-British organisation, citing the support of many of its clubs for the H-Block hunger strikers in 1981 and the naming of clubs after dead republicans. This resulted in attempts by unionist-controlled local authorities to prevent the GAA from having access to clubhouses and grounds.

This opposition to the GAA has been clearly manifested recently through unionist resistance to increased funding to build Casement Park, with polls suggesting that a majority of unionists oppose it being used as a venue for Euro 2008. Most unionists, it would appear, would prefer for the north to miss out on hosting any Euro 2028 matches at all, so long as they can frustrate the GAA. Despite what is claimed, the opposition to Casement Park is not about funding but directly related to antipathy towards the GAA.

Overall, the GAA’s relationship with the north has not been a happy one since partition. A vicious cycle has prevailed whereby GAA members in Northern Ireland, while facing a hostile government and people, tried to express their Irish identity through the one body they felt they could do so in, which further enraged their opponents.

The GAA has made efforts in recent years to invite people from a unionist background into its fold. The outstanding success story that is East Belfast GAA is testament to what is possible. The new GAA president Jarlath Burns has shown his willingness to engage with and genuinely reach out to unionists, including inviting Orange Order members to the school he is principal of, St Paul’s High School in Bessbrook. He even presented Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly with an orange (Armagh GAA) scarf recently at a Northern Ireland women’s soccer international in Windsor Park.

Should the GAA consider removing the playing of the Irish national anthem and the flying of the tricolour at games or would this move alienate many of its current supporters without moving the dial on unionist and Protestant membership?

Despite some efforts, the GAA still has a problem in attracting unionists and Protestants. Should the GAA consider removing the playing of the Irish national anthem and the flying of the tricolour at games or would this move alienate many of its current supporters without moving the dial on unionist and Protestant membership? The GAA could make practical moves too such as increasing its outreach to young children in Protestant schools or making its facilities more available to other sports.

It cannot be all one-way traffic though. Unionists need to acknowledge the positive and important contribution the GAA has offered to northern society overall.

Only then might we see more people like Emma Little-Pengelly taking up camogie.